Ukase

Clearly you haven't met me, lol. Donate inf to a costume contest? That's not an inf sink. That's just inf transfer. And it's all too subjective. Even if I were to host one, I'd have to actually look at the costumes. There'd be no fun in that for me. That would actually be boring and a waste of time. Other than the badge for spending 50M at the tailor, I've never spent ANY inf at the tailor. I just don't get off on costumes. I see them as pretty much a waste of time. As for the prismatic, they're worthless other than being needed for the three badges. Sadly, the value of these has dropped below 20M inf, and will likely drop below 10M inf in another couple of weeks. There's a number of things we could possibly get to sink some influence, but it seems we don't have enough influence in circulation for them to create them in game. Just speculation on my part, nothing concrete.

Back Alley Brawler is in SW Atlas as a trainer. But what he's missing is a couple of Longbow NPCs to sell my lowbie enhancements. Just a small suggestion.

It doesn't matter, because there's no content to play with that build. The only "practice" you get is baptism by fire in the pvp zone against other players. And that's what I don't want. I'd rather practice in missions, understanding how fast/slow recharge, regen etc is when in pvp. I don't want to have to toggle on again and again learning it. I would consider it a failure each and every time. There's no fun in that. I would prefer to run the content from 1-50 with those same rules on my build and then go into pvp having a better understanding of what my character can handle, and what it can't. The rules are different in pvp zones. I don't know what idiot decided to change our stats upon entry, but it was a bad move. I know why they did it - I just disagree with it. It is what it is. If it were fun, I'd do it. It's not fun for me, so I'm not going to do it, if I can avoid it. I've already seen from some in this post that they like talking trash. They think it's fun. And that's fine for them - but it's not for me. I find it much like the barking of a Chihuahua. A lot of fuss over very little. It's kind of like a cut scene in a task force or iTrial when you already know the story.

Opinionated, yes. Absolutely. And yes, I believe everyone deserves respect merely for existing - until they behave in such a way that illustrates they don't deserve it. Why should I expect any less for myself than what I would give everyone else?

This isn't always true. In fact, for most, it's rarely true. PvP takes time and effort to determine the differences between it and pve. I play 50+3 levels on a character and get into RV - and my character is not very much like it was in pve. Much has changed. Regen/recovery has changed. Resists and defenses have changed. It's an entirely different character. Some builds, like a blaster, can usually handle this change okay - as most blasters don't really have much by way of defense or resistances. But tanks, at least mine, are built to cap resists in most cases, unless it's a defensive armor, like Shield. When they changed the way my characters worked - I put pvp behind me. And I won't pick it up again primarily because of that. So, you're wrong. I can't do much about it, other than leave. The few times I did fight back - they run away when they're close to losing. I don't have multiple travel powers, and it's beyond ridiculous to get them just for an hour or two's worth of badging. Can't catch 'em, so even if I could win, I can't win, because they don't want to actually pvp. They want to clobber someone, and then run away when they can't. It just makes no sense with travel suppression. I am not crying foul. They didn't do anything wrong by tackling me. I'm just saying it's annoying and that the trash talk that sometimes follows is simply unnecessary and serves no purpose, other than to irritate someone, probably hoping they'll stick around and try to "show" them. Either way - it creates a negative effect for me, and I'd rather it not happen. Hopefully, it will be years before they put any more badges in pvp zones.

That's a lot easier said than done. If there were an executable I could download, and fire it up as easily as HC CoH, I certainly would. Not saying I wouldn't play here, but I'd certainly do that. I can't imagine the size of such a file. And, I'm pretty sure no such file exists, but a collection of files. Requiring perhaps a dedicated machine. I've honestly no idea, but I know with certainty it's not that simple.

I talk "down" to anyone who lowers themselves with a lack of respect shown towards me. I simply would not accept that trash talk in real life, nor will I accept it in game. I have no issues about putting knots on someone's forehead if they don't give me the respect I deserve. Life is too short to be around people who disrespect you. You're using this competition analogy like it lines up. It doesn't. If you look at my post in context, it's clear that I'm not there to compete, except against other badgers, in a fashion. And as badgers, most of us are more supportive than competitive. A badger who goes into RV is not there to compete. Now, someone like me may find themselves doing pvp whether they want to or not - but when they do not, it's not competition. It's just annoying. And in that context, trash talk is ill-mannered and rude. There's no basis for comparing the thickness of skin. If you like pvp and see a badger in there, sure, everyone is fair game. But that trash talk is just pointless. It serves nobody any purpose, and it certainly doesn't motivate me to pvp. It just motivates me to leave and come back later. When people are friends, and they compete, sure, there's banter and some mind games. PvP is not the same thing in most cases, because there is no relationship. And because of that, trash talk is not really "the norm". It's done by small-minded people, who are trying to feel bigger than they are. At least, that's my opinion. Yours is obviously different. And I find your way of thinking every bit as bizarre. It's all good.

I can generally keep track of my alts - which ones have done a weekly, which haven't. But with this new currency, the Prismatic Aether Particle, it has it's own set of rules, and well, frankly, it's a bit convoluted. So, I've got a new 50. Was doing a Belladonna arc when I see this recruitment message: No idea who this chap is, and that doesn't matter. But, it reminded me that we get merits and the prismatics for doing it. Thing is - I only got two prismatics. So..I think - let me send this chap a tell and let him know it only gives 2. But, the back of my wee noggin tells me that the error might be mine, as I'd run a sLam earlier, and following that, a BAF. I got one prismatic for the sLam. I got zero for the BAF. And I got two for the TPN. I remember reading this part in the patch notes, and frankly - to hell with your schedule of diminishing returns. It's patently stupid. Why? Because most folks don't swap back and forth from one alt to the next. They get a 50, play to gear up the incarnates, then make a new alt. I concede that everyone may not play like that, but I think it's fair to say that most do. The way I see it - be consistent. Give two prismatics, or one. Or 3. Whatever. Pick a number and grant those rewards in the same amount each time. There's no reason to encourage people to alt out. Alting out is a waste for most of us. I only have one level 50 that's not t-4 in all. Why would I want to alt out and get an incarnate component that my current alt can't use? It's just not clear why it should be this way. I can already hear it now (or read, as the case may be) "If you want the prismatic, alt, otherwise do what you do." I say "shut up, you're missing the point". The point is, I shouldn't have to be corralled into alting out for the figurative carrot. I should get the same carrot regardless of the alt I'm on. Now, if it were a second sLam or BAF or TPN, I get it. But they're 3 different trials. There should be no diminishing returns. So, hooray for having a reason to run these trite iTrials that I've run literally hundreds of times. But BOOOO! for removing that motivation in the same stroke. Screw those itrials if they're not gonna pay me. I think the diminishing returns needs to be revisited. We need some consistency for the rewards, otherwise, some asshat like me will be sending this league leader a tell, blaming him for telling me it was three prismatics when it's only 2.

It usually takes me about 5 days. I make the character, then look for a free ride to Ouro and park it before I do anything. When I get the chronologist badge, then I begin to clobber npcs. I tend to visit p2w at level 4, and proceed to market, kill stuff, grab exploration accolades, etc. While it's true I've never gotten a recipe drop before reaching level 10, getting from 1 to 10 doesn't take very long at all (once I start). So, since I tend to do story arcs en route to 50, I see no reason not to get the random rare recipe after each mission completion.

In context, when I was badging, it's always problematic recruiting for assistance, because once you do - the folks that like to pvp see the recruiting message and may be inclined to lay in wait. So, I would often use the Heavy in the zone, along with a vanguard HVAS, my lore pets and any other temp pet I had to assist. My characters are generally leaning more towards survivability than dps, although I do try to find a good balance. When I'd get zerged by several pvpers, I completely understand the risks - it's just annoying to have to stop what I'm doing, and come back later. As for what I'd have preferred they do - pvp each other. It's 4 of 'em. Let them tackle each other. I'm there to tackle the AVs and such. But, them's the breaks. It's a pvp zone. Just don't brag about it when it's 4 on one.

This is all just a rant, and seems to be off-topic, but I may as well vent. I can't say that I've ever experienced anything worse than this - BUT - it is this "standard" trash talk you speak of that I do not desire or require. It's completely unnecessary. "Gee, 4 of you ganged up on me while I'm fighting Ghost Widow, solo, in RV...such a display of skill." Why are 4 players tackling one? Because they can. But does that mean that they should? I get it, it's a pvp zone, you knew what you were getting yourself into when you zoned in. But it's because of THAT mind set that most folks avoid it. Just my opinion, but chat should be disabled in pvp zones. I find all that "standard trash talk" rude, especially if I win! I hardly ever win, and if I do, it's most likely because their cat got on the keyboard or something. I go there for badges only now. I have zero interest in playing a character for 50 levels, fine-tuning it, understanding it's attack chain and it's end recovery issues, if it has any, and then enter a pvp zone and discover my resistances are different, my defenses are different, my attack chain also has to change. What idiot thought that would be fun? I thought going into Warburg, I could do those missions to become accustomed to how my character would play under those rules, but as soon as you enter the mission, the pve rules kick back on. It's just a stupid, stupid implementation. Heck, that's probably why PvP is known for such hostility. The game makes people mad the instant they zone in because their character is completely different.

A fair question. When I was selling the pvp IOs, and keeping track, I would often see the Shield Walls selling for 10M, which struck me as odd, because I was selling them for 8M. It made no sense to me why people would just slap a 10M bid off the jump, particularly when the display glitch didn't seem to impact them, at least, not for me. I think it's a player, returning after an absence who has the resources and doesn't realize that prices have lowered over time. I could certainly be wrong. I recall getting something like 64M for a pvp IO, and I was tickled, because the going price was 8M, as I mentioned. I considered it an extra zero on the bid, and frankly, you get no mercy from me for low-balling an offer of 6.4M for an 8M item. 7M, I can see. But 6.4 is just being cheap. So, when I see an extra zero in cases like those, I chuckle to myself and send a mental message - "That's what you get for being cheap!".

The RNG can be a fickle mistress. When I'm farming, my alt that is getting PL'd once got 3 purples - just sitting, while the poor farmer got only 1. There's never a rhyme or a reason for it that I can tell. Anecdotally, I can tell you my tank routinely gets 2-5 uncommon/rare recipes per map, which I run at +2/8 or +4/8, depending on how close I am to leveling. I did another MSR, with an HVAS, and still got less than 900 VG merits, and this one was not instanced. This is my conclusion: bad luck. I think some teams just have people that are just "healing" instead of firing. A damn shame, too, because when I'm herding the Rikti to the bowl, I'm not getting any buffs at all. In any event, I have enough VG merits for the gr'ai matter I'll need tomorrow, and that's all the vg merits I need for now. My cold/fire brute holds the record for most vg merits at 1511. Prior to that, I'd gotten over 1400 only twice. Usually, I'm at 1200 vg merits. I'll just not be making any more tanks for a while, lol.

I dunno. Yeah, I was a bit surprised, when I'd run a Morty Kal when it was the weekly, and a lower level teammate didn't get the prismatic. They can drop randomly after the completion of a mission for a sub-50, so it really doesn't make any sense at all to me that sub-50's don't get them. That said, now that they're just 24M compared to the 175M they were going for after the patch hit, I can make that much in a couple of minutes on the AH. So, why run it for a couple of prismatics? The only time I run a weekly now is to support specific officers in the SG and when I need a notice. I'd like to run them with my lowbies, but if I run it on level 40 on a Wednesday, it disqualifies my character from getting a notice until the coming Monday. (as I'm likely to ding 50 before the week is over) That's why I almost never run a weekly on a lowbie. Nothing to do with a prismatic.

I can't remember. It was either Ukase or Ukaserex. At some point during live, I changed my global from Ukase Rex to Ukase. But I don't believe there's an option to change the forum name, so, it was probably always Ukaserex.

Watch your language!

I completely agree with this. Time is precious. Big blocks of time for an in-game experience are hard to come by for most folks with responsibilities. And when I say big blocks, I refer to anything over an hour.

You know, I was asked once by Yomo how much inf I had. I told him it would cost me too much inf to take the time to count it. 😇

This is so true! I think Howard Stern said it best. "I'm 6 foot 5, and hung like a pimple." And I'm not even 6'5"!

This will be true...sometime later. But not for awhile. Historically, I was using the ol' emp ->reward merit --> converter method at the ol' merit vendor. But you little scamps took that away. But, I've a healthy supply of reward merits in the global email and still hundreds, if not thousands of winter and hero packs to open. And, since I'm not farming anymore, my need for converters will go way down. It may well be a year before I need to buy any. Just depends. I've been saving for that rainy day. When HC seeded the salvage, I learned pretty quickly that you guys could change things pretty quickly. So, I've tried to use several methods to store wealth - purples, pvp IOs, winters, reward merits, super packs, winter packs, and standard inf. I believe selling converters is the lazy player's way to wealth. Actually using them, turning trash into gold is what they were made for, and what makes the most influence. Converters as a store of value...nah. I can't buy anything with converters, and if I did use them as such, the value of my portfolio would be roughly 75% of what it was before page 4 dropped. Converters used to go for 70K instantly; and the amount for sale would vary from about 6k to 45K. Now, it seems to be staying well above 50k. This is probably due to a number of folks who exchanged emps for reward merits prior to page 4 hitting. And, over time, I suspect it will return to normal. But for now, buying converters does seem like a good idea, as they're so cheap, and in about 4-5 months, the price should be creeping up. Maybe sooner. Depends on how other marketers are taking advantage of the situation.

I disagree. That is, it's certainly not true for me. I still don't pay for lotg 7.5%, nor pvp IOs. At least, not the crafted versions. I buy recipes to convert into what I want, if I don't have them stashed in my base. And I'm filthy rich, in-game. I make a point to only sell in the AH, never buy, if I can help it. My dad used to drum it in my brain, it's not how much money you make, it's how much money you save. So, given that a 125 map in AE brings about 4-5M, every two IOs I don't have to buy is one less map I need to run. But that's just me being a miser, I suppose. It's not rational for me to think everyone thinks or acts this way - and I'm sure someone's making extra zero errors, and some folks will blow that extra inf to get what they want immediately. I I know some people may be impatient or ignorant that way, but I've got to think most folks are smarter than the "buy now" mentality. Or maybe they're not. God bless 'em, they've made my account loaded with inf. I just always thought those "buy it now" people were the exception, rather than the rule. So, horrible creature that I am - this kind of makes me want to rescind my comment about not afk-farming. How much inf do I have to create to get the inf sinks I've been asking for? Tweaking supply through drop rates...that's certainly interesting. I really need to learn how to .pigg dive. May I ask how HC assesses this? Because as someone who tends to craft/convert/sell all but purples and pvp recipes, I don't see the inflation. I see my fellow marketers selling things for less - meaning I have to ask for less to get something back for my troubles. The only area I see a tiny bit of price increase is the level 10-30 sought after stuff like Steadfast Protection 3% def, Kismet ToHit, and similarly sought after IOs. And that's got a certain ebb and flow to it, mostly due to competition. At least, I think that's it. In some cases, I swear it was some of the HC folks secretly buying stuff in hopes of stimulating the economy, because it kind of boggled my mind selling 100 glad armor 3% def in one day. I didn't think demand for them was that high. Granted, I was selling cheaper, I think. But it wasn't so cheap that someone would have made any measurable return if they relisted, after the 10% AH fee. I'm sure that's just in my wee brain, though. Again, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. It matters. At least, it matters to me.

The difference, in this context, is when a farmer is killing mobs, they earn inf and xp with each kill. That inf is added into the game's economy. It comes from thin air, kind of like our congress just adding zeroes to the available budget. When a marketer makes influence - he/she is really decreasing the value of the economy, because of the AH fees. This is why I have always marketed my drops when I farmed. That, and it seemed prudent to me to do so. Make 4 million inf in mob defeats, craft the 5 recipes I get - that's 2.5M in crafting costs, roughly. Convert the crafted IOs, list them for 2.7M, then, collect the 15M in sales. While doing so, I pay 1.5M in AH fees. So, the inf earned farming is pretty much a wash. The 13.5M inf earned from the results of that farming is a plus for me, but that influence came from other players, not the game's automatic reward system. The marketer is reducing the size of the economy. The farmer is increasing it. In context of competing for the Shiny McThingBobs that our esteemed #6 mentions, it's still competition for those items. The source of the inf is not important in context. At least, I can't see how it is. But, I am known for being obtuse and can miss things more easily than I'd like.

I am someone who solos a lot. I would farm sometimes. Prior to page 3, I farmed routinely, met a goal, and last December, when the winter pack sale ended, I pretty much stopped farming, except for emp merits for the new 50's. I still run iTrials and such with them, but it's when I'm comfortable with the leader for badges, not just the incarnate loot. So, because of my success in marketing and farming, I may not be in your shoes, but I can relate to how you play, as you describe it. This is what I notice: My farmers have a rougher time of things. I can still go afk, but I have to be more careful where I leave the character. My soloing has seen nothing different. It may as well be the same game, with no changes, other than me getting pissed about doing a weekly with a sub-50 character and not getting my promised 2 prismatic aether particles - and that's when they were selling for 180M each! I feel cheated, I do. Costume unlocks are not supposed to only be available at 50, so that made no sense, not getting them. But, I digress. While it's true the patch did nothing for me, other than give another story arc for an incarnate character to run, it's not like these HC Devs have forgotten the game exists. I do see a trend of them encouraging team play. They seem to think this is some kind of team game. I've never looked at it as such, but the most amusement I've had in game has been on teams. And, regrettably, all the negative experiences I've had in game have been on teams. I can hardly blame the development choices on that, though.

I don't see the HC devs giving preferential treatment over any other - but I'm looking at the changes as a whole since they opened the doors. I think they'll cycle through and do something for most of the "types" we have.

I just want to say how proud I am of some of you. You really had me tricked. I've never seen so many converters in the market before, consistently. There was a time when they'd hit 40K or so, when Dr Q or another shard tf was the weekly. But, lately, over 50k, and the prices are lower than I recall ever seeing them. I have the feeling a LOT of you had a fair number of emp merits stashed, and converted them to reward/hero merits before the patch. That's an awful lot of click & dragging. Still, super pleased, because I used to farm for the incarnate vet level awards, just because I didn't want to pay over 70k for a converter. Some folks are comfortable with a few hundred converters, but I need thousands. I tend to carry close to the cap on most of my market/farm characters. I even stocked up before the patch, expecting converters to be more scarce, due to the removal of the conversion. Keep it up!